International News

Islamabad: In a bid to deter people from products which are harmful – to varying degrees – to health, Pakistan is considering imposition of a ‘sin tax’ on cigarettes and products high on sugar content like soft drinks, candies and sugar itself. The country’s minister for National Health Services, Aamer Mahmood Kiani, said at a recent conference that the Imran Khan government ...

New Delhi: Indian IT company HCL Technologies Friday said it will acquire select IBM software products for USD 1.8 billion (over Rs 12,700 crore) in an all-cash deal. The transaction, subject to “completion of applicable regulatory reviews”, is slated to close by mid-2019, HCL Technologies said in a statement. The deal entails seven products in areas including security, marketing and ...

Guess who is the highest-paid YouTube star of 2018? PewDiepie? Markiplier? Nope. It’s a seven-year-old chap and his hit YouTube toy review channel. With more than 17.3 million followers, Ryan ToysReview emerged on the top of Forbes list of Highest-Paid YouTube Stars 2018, earning a sweet $22 million. Ryan, whose last name hasn’t been made public to protect his identity, ...

Ankara: Istanbul’s chief prosecutor has filed warrants for the arrest of a top aide to Saudi Arabia`s de facto ruler and the deputy head of its foreign intelligence on suspicion of planning the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, two Turkish officials said on Wednesday. The prosecutor`s office has concluded there is “strong suspicion” that Saud al-Qahtani and General Ahmed al-Asiri, both ...

WASHINGTON: Former US President George HW Bush was hailed at his state funeral on Wednesday as a warrior-statesman of uncommon personal kindness who went from being a hero of American conflicts to representing a bygone era of civility in politics. Amid an unusual bipartisan spirit at the service at Washington`s National Cathedral, both Republican and Democratic politicians honoured a president ...

Washington: Canada has arrested Huawei`s global chief financial officer in Vancouver, where she is facing extradition to the United States, Canada`s Department of Justice said on Wednesday. The arrest is related to violations of U.S. sanctions, a person familiar with the matter said. Reuters was unable to determine the precise nature of the violations. Meng Wanzhou, who is one of ...

Islamabad: At a time when the Pakistani economy is in utter shambles and the local currency has touched record lows against the US dollar, the country’s finance minister said that there is no economic crisis here. In what perhaps is an example of living in denial mode, Asad Umar said that Pakistan is not facing an economic crisis and that ...

Washington: Asserting that 40 years is enough for every responsible nation to get on board with the south Asia peace process, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, in a strong message to Pakistan, said it is time for everyone to support the efforts of the UN, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan in this regard. “We’re looking for every responsible nation ...

About 100 million users of Quora were affected by unauthorized access to one of its systems by a “malicious third party,” the knowledge-sharing website said on Monday. Account information, including name, email address, encrypted password and data imported from linked networks when authorized by users may have been compromised, it said. The company said it is logging out all Quora ...

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron rushed to the Arc de Triomphe on Sunday after one of France`s most revered monuments was vandalised by rioters, with the government considering a state of emergency after the worst bout of unrest for years. Masked, black-clad groups ran amok across central Paris on Saturday, torching dozens of cars and buildings, looting shops, smashing windows ...